Size zero goes for a toss!

Ankita Chakrabarty/ Zee Research Group

“I want to become curvy and sensuous like Vidya Balan and Kareeena,”declares Reema (name changed) a 27- year old lawyer from Delhi. Thereby hangs a tale with Vidya Balan and Kareena figuring in the same wish list. This is what 2011 has done to the world of beauty. 2011 was really a trend setter as many female oriented movies were released and all of them were received by the audience with great enthusiasm and fervor. A new trend was set in the film industry which displayed curves as fashionable. Bollywood beauties like Vidya Balan, Kareena Kapoor, Kangna Ranaut and Priyanka Chopra delivered hits after hits when they flaunted their voluptuous side. As if completely sold onto size, film critic Taran Adarsh said, “Indian audience always desired women who were voluptuous and full. The concept of size zero was never in the scenario.” “Even in the sixties and seventies, actresses were plump and full and they were appreciated in the manner they were,” added Adarsh, without mentioning the months and years in between when size would at best be a regional flavor and not a national obsession. The first release of this year was ‘No One Killed Jessica’ which was released on January 7, 2011, starring Rani Mukherjee and Vidya Balan; it was a political thriller, set in New Delhi and was based on the media coverage of the controversial Jessica Lal murder case. The film received great applause from the critics and was declared a hit. The month of January and February saw the release of movies where the female lead had to look plump and full to fit the bill. However, the male counterparts have a different story to tell. Ranjan, (name changed), a 24-year old boy from Delhi, said, “It’s good to see voluptuous and full actresses on screen for a change but slim and skinny women always steal the show.” Really, did not Vidya Balan offer a decisive view on the issue by the year end? Priyanka Chopra’s ‘7 Khoon Maaf’ released on February 18, 2011 and based on Ruskin’s Bond ‘Susanna’s Seven Husbands’ was also critically appreciated. It brought back the feministic mode in action. Priyanka had to look full to portray the character of Susanna in the 20-65 age range. Kangna Ranaut’s ‘Saddi Gali’ song in ‘Tanu weds Manu’ is the hit song in every north Indian wedding in which she looked full to portray the role of a north Indian girl. Mind you this was without the extra girth courtesy a sulking winter. The year also saw several other releases in comedy genre like Salman Khan’s ‘Ready’ which opened to an overwhelming response at the Box Office and packed cinema halls with single screens reporting nearly 95-100 per cent occupancy. Few other low budget light hearted movies did well in the Box Office like ‘Pyaar ka Punchnama,’ ‘Mujhse Fraandship Karoge’ and others. In Salman Khan’s starrer ‘Bodyguard’ the ‘Chamak Challo’ girl Kareena looked plump and full to portray the role of a girl next door. The film was declared to be the biggest blockbuster of the year. Kareena’s look in the song ‘Chamak Challo’ from the Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘RA. One’ raised the palpitation of many men all over. Finally, the showstopper of 2011 ‘Vidya Balan’ in ‘The Dirty Picture’ proved that size does matter. The ‘Ooh La La’ girl with her voluptuous and seductive appeal in the movie managed to set a new trend in the film industry that it is necessary to feel as a woman first and one’s conception of style is the way one wants to visualize it.